Preparing effectively for litigation is as important as making arguments in the courtroom. Litigation document review involves various processes to ensure that all privileged and confidential material is properly protected while still ensuring responsiveness during the discovery process. Here are some of the resources needed to provide effective document review for cases that will be litigated:
Case Information
One of the first tools necessary is the case briefing memo and materials. This information includes the names/titles of people involved, the date range of when communications took place, and any keywords that may have been used in recording notes, sending emails, or generating other communications. It should also include a background on the case to provide the attorneys involved with context for their review. Only when the reviewers have a thorough understanding of the issues of the case may they start the document review process.
Legal Team Strategy
Understanding the legal team’s strategy when beginning the litigation process is also critical to performing an efficient document review. The review team should be fully briefed on issues of particular importance so that they can flag relevant documents during the review on a rolling basis.
Language Within the Litigation Document Review
During a document review, every person on the review team must be consistent in their approach to evaluating documents. This means using the terms responsive, non-responsive, confidential, and privileged consistently during the review. Project leaders can use the quality control process to ensure early in the review that all reviewers have a consistent understanding of the case issues. And then quality control searches should be performed throughout the review to maintain this consistency.
Efficiency, Accuracy, and Thoroughness
Because document review is typically one of the most costly aspects of a case, it is important that a review team be accurate and thorough while also maintaining efficiency. Mistakes can be costly. Having an experienced litigation document review team will prevent unexpected costs while ensuring all relevant factors have been covered.
Having access to both an effective and cost-saving solution for litigation document review can be very beneficial to law firms and in-house counsel. If you are considering the benefits of outsourcing your document review or would like to learn more, contact Baer Reed legal support services and find out what we can do for your practice.
Mr. Reyes graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received the Procter and Gamble Student Excellence Award. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law. During law school, Mr. Reyes was part of the Philippine delegation to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna, Austria. He was also a member of the Ateneo Society of International Law and the St. Thomas More Debate Society. He completed his internship at the Public Attorney’s Office. He wrote a thesis entitled: “To Kill A White Elephant: An Analysis of the Fiduciary Exception to the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege”. Mr. Reyes is admitted to practice law in the Philippines and the State of New York.
Ms. Lardizabal-Manzano is a graduate of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, where she earned her B.A. in Political Science. In 2003, she received her law degree from Lyceum of the Philippines and was admitted to practice law in 2004.
Matthew Hersh earned a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1990 and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Cap. Avi Levak (Res. IDF) graduated from from Israel’s prestigious Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics. He is also a Leadership and Communication coach trained in TuT coaching by Alon gal in Israel. Avi specializes in high-level, in-depth analysis of business and client needs, within systems and software strategy and architecture.
Ms. Tyler graduated cum laude from Georgetown University and received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, she interned at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She also worked on The Tax Lawyer journal and was a member of the award-winning Barristers’ Council Mock Trial Team. Ms. Tyler is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the District of Columbia.
Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo graduated cum laude and top nine in her batch from Miriam College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in InternationalStudies. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in Rockwell. During law school, she interned in Rivera, Santos, Maranan & Associates. She was also part of Ateneo’s Labor Law Bar Operations. She wrote her thesis on, “Stealing Privacy: Limitations on Media’s Photographic Invasion.,” Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo is admitted to practice law in the Philippines.
Ms. Aquino-Batallones obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies (with Minors in Global Politics and Hispanic Studies) from the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2011, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. During law school, she interned at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles then became an intern of Ateneo Legal Services Center’s Clinical Legal Education Program.
Mr. De Guzman graduated from San Beda College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics and received his law degree from San Beda College of Law. He is multilingual and is fluent in three languages: Chinese, Filipino, and English. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003.